June 4, 2009

This is the seventeenth day of my research assistant role of the Youth Gardening Project. Today's location was at Tuskegee University's Greenhouse. Ashton and I fertilized the children's boxes and made sure they were watered too. After the completion of the first task, we watered the plants inside the greenhouse as well. Greenhouses are very important because they help cultivated plants. They prevent pests, diseases, and other outside elements that might pose a danger to them. Although the temperature in Tuskegee University's greenhouse--probably many other greenhouses--are extremely hot the plants seem to love it. Greenhouses can allow certain crops to be grown year round such as lettuce and other vegetables. I often wonder were the idea of a greenhouse came about. After performing a quick search on Wikipedia, they mention a extensive history about the greenhouse but I will only share a few sentences on my blog: The idea of growing plants in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times. The Roman emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber-like vegetable daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods (similar to the greenhouse system) of growing to have it available for his table every day of the year. Some old methods pass away but I glad the method of using the greenhouse did not!